Book review: Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber

Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber (Published by Sourcebooks Fire, November 1, 2011)

Seventeen-year-old Natalie Stewart has been unable to speak since her mother died when she was a little girl, and so she has lived a rather isolated life. After graduating from a school for the deaf and mute and returning home to New York City, she begins writing a diary to pass the time. Her father works for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which in 1880, when the story is set, had only been open for a few years. Natalie becomes interested in a painting of Lord Denbury, a young English nobleman who was recently presumed dead.

From the start, Natalie is fascinated by the lifelike portrait, and she soon learns why. Lord Denbury is not dead, but has been trapped in the painting by an evil demon who has possessed his body. Only Natalie can visit him in the painting, and in her dreams, which have always been dark and disturbing. Natalie and Lord Denbury soon begin to fall in love, but can Natalie save him by defeating the demon and breaking the curse that traps him in the painting?

Darker Still is a book that really stands out from the sea of young adult paranormal romances out there. Both the setting (New York City in 1880) and the story (a demon who trapped someone in a painting) are very unique, as is the format, since the story is told through Natalie's diary. If you are like me and love young adult paranormal romance but are sick and tired of the endless modern vampire and werewolf books, I highly recommend this book, and I think fans of historical fiction would enjoy it as well.

Disclosure: Review copy provided by publisher.

Book review: Our Australian Girl: Grace and Glory by Sofie Laguna

Our Australian Girl: Grace and Glory by Sofie Laguna (Published by Puffin Books Australia, June 27, 2011)

It's 1808, and after a long sea voyage from England on a convict ship, Grace has arrived in Australia, where she must work seven years as a servant before she will be freed. Grace is chosen by a young married couple, Tom and Beth, who are expecting a baby and need a servant to help on their farm in the Australian bush. Grace is happy to have found a home, and the fresh air of Australia is wonderful compared to the slums of London. However, she has never worked as a servant before and is worried about whether she will do a good job.

Beth is very kind to Grace and teaches her how to cook, clean, and care for the garden. However, Tom is suspicious of her, and nothing she does ever seems good enough for her. He also forbids her to stay away from his beautiful horse, Glory, which makes Grace sad because she has always loved horses. When Tom goes away to work, he leaves Grace to look after Beth, but will she be able to find help in time when Beth goes into labor?

Grace and Glory is the third of four books about Grace from the Our Australian Girl series. This series is part of a larger series called Our Australian Girl, which is a bit like the American Girls series, but set in Australia. Of the four girls from the series, Grace is my favorite. She is a very sympathetic charcater, since she had such a hard life in England, where she was an orphan and her uncle mostly left her to fend for herself in the streets, providing only a place for her to sleep at night. I can't wait to read the final book about Grace, A Home for Grace, which will be published in October 2011, so I can find out how her story concludes.

Book review: Cross My Heart by Sasha Gould

Cross My Heart by Sasha Gould (Published by Puffin Books UK, April 7, 2011)

When Laura della Scalla was twelve years old, her father sent her to a convent to train as a nun, preferring to spend all the available money on a dowry for her older sister, Beatrice. Life in the convent was miserable and dull, but now, six years later, Laura is shocked to be told she will be leaving the convent and returning home. But nothing is as she hoped it would be. Beatrice has drowned under mysterious circumstances, and Laura must take her place and marry the man their father had arranged for Beatrice to marry. But when Laura meets her future husband, Vincenzo, she is desperate to escape and wishes she could return to the convent rather than marry a cruel, repulsive man who is old enough to be her grandfather.

Willing to do anything to escape her arranged marriage, Laura turns to the Segreta, a secret society of women. They are willing to help her for a price - she must share with them a secret about a rich and powerful member of Venetian society. Willing to do anything, Laura tells them a secret she had sworn never to share - and shortly after, Vincenzo is exiled from Venice after it is revealed that he is a spy, saving Laura from having to marry him. Laura is happy to be saved from a terrible marriage, but she begins to fear the power of the Segreta. And then Laura learns that her sister's death was not an accident, but murder. Laura is determined to solve her sister's murder, but at the same time she is falling in love with a young man who is far below her social class.

I really liked the premise of this book since I love romantic historical fiction with unusual settings. And overall, I did enjoy it for the most part, I loved the setting of Venice and the mystery and romance. But I did have a couple of small complaints. I guessed who the villain would turn out to be rather early on (not sure if it was really predictable or just a lucky guess) and just when everything seemed to be wrapping up nicely for this to be a standalone novel, the ending comes along and seems to leave it very open for a sequel. I've been disappointed lately by the lack of standalone novels and how almost all young adult books are part of a series. Hopefully if there is another book it will be about a different character since I really liked how this story ended for Laura and I'd hate to see it dragged out.

Book review: Dear America: With the Might of Angels by Andrea Davis Pinkney

Dear America: With the Might of Angels by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Published by Scholastic, September 1, 2011)

Dawnie Rae Johnston begins her diary on her twelth birthday in 1954, the day after the Supreme Court decision ending segregation in schools. Dawnie is one of the top students in her grade at her segregated school, but she wishes she could go to the white school in town, which is a much nicer building, with new books and supplies and even a baseball field. When Dawnie's parents decide to enroll her at the white school for the following school year, she is excited to be attending such a nice school. But many people in Hadley are racist, and her family suffers as a result. Her father loses his job, and many of the teachers and students are cruel to her.

This was a difficult book for me to review, because it was well-written and well-researched, but not to my personal tastes. I always feel bad trying to decide how to review a book when it's well-written but I just didn't enjoy it. And since the Dear America series is one of my favorite series, I had really hoped to enjoy this book, but it's a bad sign when it takes me over two weeks to finish a Dear America book.

I think there were two main reasons why I didn't enjoy it very much. The first reason was that I couldn't relate to the main character at all. She was a tomboy who was obsessed with sports and loved baseball. I am the least athletic person on the planet, gym class was torture for me, and I just got bored and annoyed whenever she would write about sports or use some kind of sport-y metaphor (Which was really often). And the second reason is that, after reading this book and a few others, I've come to the conclusion that for the most part, I just don't like historical fiction set after World War II. It just seems too modern to me. If you are interested in the Civil Rights Movement or 1950s history in general, and this book sounds like something you would enjoy, don't let my review put you off reading it. I think a lot of people will enjoy this book, and like I said it's well-written, it just didn't interest me.

Book review: Our Australian Girl: Letty and the Stranger's Lace by Alison Lloyd

Our Australian Girl: Letty and the Stranger's Lace by Alison Lloyd (Published by Puffin Books Australia, May 2, 2011)

It's 1841, and Letty and her older sister Lavinia have just arrived in Sydney, Australia after a long sea voyage from England. Nothing has gone as planned - Letty was not supposed to be on the ship in the first place, and Lavinia's job in Sydney has fallen through. Now they must stay in a boardinghouse for single female immigrants while they try to find jobs.

Lavinia finds a job working as a servant in a grand house, but nobody seems to want Letty, because she is young and not as pretty as her older sister. Her only friend besides her sister was Abner, a young sailor on the ship, and now that the ship is leaving Letty will probably never see him again. Letty feels alone and rejected. Can Letty adjust to life in Sydney and find a job and a home?

This is the second of four books about Letty from the Our Australian Girl series, which is similar to the American Girls series. I wouldn't suggest reading these out of order, they are one story and meant to be read in order. I enjoyed this book and it was nice to see Letty being less passive and gullible compared to the first book. And as an American, I have really enjoyed learning about Australian history from the books in this series.

Book review: Tomorrow Girls: Run for Cover by Eva Gray

Tomorrow Girls: Run for Cover by Eva Gray (Published by Scholastic, July 1, 2011)

Rosie, Evelyn, Louisa, and Maddie are four young teenage girls who were sent to a remote boarding school to keep them safe from the war. But the girls discovered a terrible secret - their boarding school was run by the enemy, the Alliance, who tricked parents into sending their children there to be used as hostages - and decided to escape.

This book picks up right where book one, Behind the Gates, left off, as the girls decide to try and find their way to Chicago to reunite with their parents and expose the truth about the school. Shortly after, they run into three boys from the nearby boys' boarding school, who are away from the school on a camping trip and who decide to join them after learning the truth about their schools. This time the narrator is Rosie, who has a secret - she knows all about being on the run, because her wealthy parents arranged for their illegal immigration to the United States after their home in Mexico was destroyed. She takes on the job of leading the group, but can she bring them to safety, especially when they find themselves trapped in Alliance-occupied Canada?

While I enjoyed the continuing story of the four girls, and will definitely read the final two books to find out how the story concludes, I had the same problem with this book as I did with book one. There's no information at all about who the Alliance is and what caused the war, just that it happened after life had already changed in the United States due to climate change and natural disasters. I'm still hoping the other books in the series will have an explanation, despite this being a middle grade book I think there should be something more than just "There's a war with bad people on the other side." I think this series would still be a good choice for younger readers who are interested in the popular dystopian genre but not ready for young adult books, and even for older readers who want a quick read. I just wish the background of the story had been a bit more detailed.

In My Mailbox - 7/3/11

Credit goes to The Story Siren for creating and hosting the In My Mailbox feature.

Here are the new books I got this week:

Bought:

Traitor's Kiss by Pauline Francis

This is the captivating true story of the young Elizabeth I, as she struggles to survive the treacherous world of Tudor England. After the death of her father, Henry VIII, a young Elizabeth journeys to London to live with her father's widow, Katherine Parr, and her new husband, Thomas Seymour, brother-in-law to King Edward. Surrounded by malicious whisperings of her late mother's witchcraft, Elizabeth is desperate to escape suspicion and discover the truth about her mother. A young stranger asserting Anne's Boleyn's innocence sends her on search a that takes her on a dangerous midnight journey to Bedlam, the hospital for the insane, to meet her mother's former lady-in-waiting. This encounter changes the way she views her mother - and herself. Meanwhile, at home, Elizabeth's reputation is increasingly under threat, as her stepfather, Thomas Seymour makes unwanted advances toward her. Her stepmother witnesses a kiss and Elizabeth is sent back to Hertfordshire in disgrace. Here she falls seriously ill and rumours abound that she is hiding a pregnancy. When Thomas Seymour is arrested for treason in a plot to overthrow King Edward, Elizabeth is implicated by association. Now it is up to her to defend her integrity - and her life...From the author of the best-selling Raven Queen comes a new masterpiece of historical fiction.


Wolf Blood by N.M. Browne

A Celtic warrior girl is held captive and enslaved by a rival tribe. When fever takes her only friend she knows she must escape, but she runs straight into the path of two Roman foot soldiers. Thinking they will kill a warrior instantly, the girl disguises herself as a beggar and asks to share their fire. Using her gift as a seer she discovers that one of the soldiers is not what he seems. Celtic blood courses through his veins too, but there is something else. He is a shapeshifter - a Versipellum. He shares his soul with that of the wolf. The girl needs to reach the leader of her dead friend's tribe, and the boy must escape the Romans before they discover his true nature. Their only chance of survival is to help each other. But what will happen when their powers are combined?


Tomorrow Girls: Run for Cover by Eva Gray

In a terrifying future world, four girls must depend on each other if they want to survive.
Now that best friends Louisa, Rosie, Evelyn, and Maddie know the truth -- or at least the danger they're in -- the girls have run away from their "safe" country retreat. But life is riskier than ever, and Rosie still doesn't know who she can trust.
Rosie's survival skills are top-notch. But how well can she keep her own secrets?


For review:

The Flappers: Ingenue by Jillian Larkin

Bobbed hair. Short skirts. Cool jazz. Dark speakeasy. Anything goes. Meet the flappers, Gloria, Clara, Lorraine . . . and the rich young boys who love and loathe them.